I-Team: SLU police, administration at odds over claims of special treatment

Campus police officers at Southeastern Louisiana University asked for a state investigation into alleged problems and are also seeking protection from their employer for pointing out issues the school considers baseless.

Some of the claims by these officers deal with student athletes and prompted the NCAA to launch its own probe into the SLU athletic department.

The allegations are serious -- from fixing tickets for student athletes to money management problems to a hostile work environment.

The officers said changes need to be made on the Hammond campus.

While the SLU Lions are in action in the historic Strawberry Stadium, dozens of campus police officers provide security for home games, and some of those officers told the WDSU I-Team that the student athletes may have received preferential treatment by campus cops.

One of the officers who spoke to the I-Team said that for several years following Hurricane Katrina, student athletes may have received improper benefits or considerations.

“They were voiding tickets for athletes. They were also making police reports athletes had done just disappear,” the officer said.

The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The officer said parking citations and moving-violation tickets were voided. The problems were so widespread, officers said they felt the need to report it to the NCAA.

“It was ethically wrong and some of us told them - 'We are not supposed to do that,'” the officer said.

A representative with SLU confirmed to the I-Team that last summer, the NCAA and the university received simultaneous complaints that "the former university police director fixed parking tickets for football, baseball and basketball student-athletes, thereby providing an impermissible benefit."

The representative said SLU and the NCAA launched a "joint investigation" into the matter, interviewing 27 student-athletes, six police office staff members and five athletics staff members.

The university's conclusion found that "the initial allegation of widespread violations was determined by both the university and NCAA representatives to be wholly unfounded."

However, SLU did report a "secondary" or minor violation to the NCAA and considered the matter closed.

The officer who spoke to the I-Team said SLU swept the matter under the rug.

“I really want someone outside the university to take a look at it to see if we are telling the truth - because we are,” the officer said.

Campus police officers said the problems do not stop there.

Since the ticket-fixing investigation, five police officers claim they have been harassed by the university.

The officers said they believe it's because they brought the problem to light.

In a letter obtained by the I-Team that was sent by the officers to the Louisiana Board of Ethics last month, the officers asked for "whistle blower protection."

Donovan Livacarri, a former officer and current lawyer working for the Fraternal Order of Police, said that state law protects police department employees from retaliation by their employer.

“Sure they have to take this seriously. Public policy wants to promote public employees to come forward with information with any kind of wrong doing occurring,” Livacarri said.

The letter sent to the ethics board by the officers makes additional allegations, which another police attorney, Raymond Burkhart III, said should be addressed by the state Board of Ethics.

“You get an objective viewpoint from an outside agency to uncover the facts as they are not as we want them to be - but when officers are making complaints against something the administration is doing it certainly needs to be looked at by an outside agency,” Burkhart said.

“We need someone to step in that's neutral to look at the situation and help us, because all of us are hurting right now as officers on this campus,” the officer said.

The university said it is not yet aware of the complaint the officers sent to the state Board of Ethics in October.

SLU officials declined to speak to WDSU on camera. However, the university said it feels the ticket-fixing matter is closed. Late Monday afternoon, in a statement, the university stressed that "no credible evidence" was found to support the allegations.

"It is unfortunate that someone saw fit to make unsubstantiated allegations which resulted in an exhaustive investigation thereby wasting significant time and effort," the statement continued.

The university simultaneously released a 31-page report detailing its probe and how it came to refute the allegations regarding the police department and student-athletes.

Some officers said they would like to see the matter investigated by someone other than the school and the NCAA.

About 30 officers make up the SLU Campus Police Department, according to the university’s website.

All officers are commissioned by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

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